New Yorkers tend to see certain natural disasters as reserved for the Midwest, California or some other distant land. So when a tornado hurled against New York City shores Saturday, a whirlwind of surprise rippled through the neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens.

As storm clouds loomed, the twister swept out of the Atlantic and through the Breezy Point section of Queens, at the tip of Rockaway Peninsula, near Brooklyn’s Coney Island. A shock for residents indeed — though they did have warning. The National Weather Service had issued a tornado alert for the area about thirty minutes before it struck, the Associated Press reports.

The above footage, shot from Brooklyn’s Gerritsen Beach, shows the powerful funnel cloud swirling along the city’s shores. Though damage is still being assessed, no injuries have been reported. Let this be a reminder, New Yorkers: we’re never immune to nature’s wrath.